Why this track exists
You already hold the certificate, so this is not a from-scratch course. It is the recurrent knowledge in the areas §107.73 names, written from the angle the rest of this material shares — where drone operations meet radio and spectrum.
This first lesson is the airspace baseline everything else assumes. The three that follow are radio: what is on the aircraft band, what your control link is doing, and what Remote ID broadcasts.
The authorisation rule, exactly
§107.41 — No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft in Class B, Class C, or Class D airspace or within the lateral boundaries of the surface area of Class E airspace designated for an airport unless that person has prior authorization from Air Traffic Control.
Read the Class E clause carefully, because it is the one people get wrong. It is not all Class E — most Class E begins at 700 or 1200 feet AGL and is irrelevant to you. It is specifically surface-area Class E designated for an airport, which reaches the ground.
| Airspace | Prior ATC authorisation? |
|---|---|
| Class B, C, D | yes |
| Class E surface area designated for an airport | yes |
| Class E starting at 700/1200 ft AGL | no |
| Class G | no |
| Class A | not reachable — begins at 18,000 ft MSL |
Class G is where most flying happens and needs no authorisation. That does not make it unregulated: every operating limit below still applies, as does §107.43 on operating in the vicinity of airports.
LAANC
Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability is how §107.41 authorisation is actually obtained. It is not a separate rule — it is the automated path to the ATC authorisation the rule requires.
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Request through an FAA-approved UAS Service Supplier app.
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UAS Facility Map grids publish a pre-approved ceiling for each cell, roughly one minute of latitude by one of longitude. The ceiling is one of nine values:
0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 feet AGL.
A request at or below the cell’s published ceiling is approved in near real time.
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Above the grid ceiling, or where the grid reads 0, LAANC cannot approve it. That path is a further coordination request through the FAA DroneZone, and it takes days to weeks.
Those nine values are worth having exactly, because plenty of secondary write-ups
quote a shortened list. They are the distinct CEILING values published in the FAA’s
own UAS Facility Map dataset, and the ceilings are lowest directly under approach and
departure paths — which is the pattern you would predict from where manned traffic
flies lowest.
A LAANC approval is an authorisation, not a clearance. It does not make ATC aware of your specific flight in real time, and it does not relieve you of seeing and avoiding. The facility maps themselves authorise nothing — they tell you what an authorisation request is likely to be granted.
The operating limits
§107.51, in full, because these are the numbers:
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Groundspeed | 87 knots (100 mph) |
| Altitude | 400 ft AGL — or within a 400 ft radius of a structure, and no more than 400 ft above that structure’s uppermost limit |
| Minimum flight visibility | 3 statute miles, from the control station |
| Distance from clouds | 500 ft below, 2,000 ft horizontally |
The structure exception is what allows tower and building inspection. Note both halves: you must be within 400 feet laterally of the structure and no more than 400 feet above its top. Neither condition alone is enough.
Visual line of sight
§107.31 — the remote pilot in command, the person manipulating the controls, and the visual observer if one is used must be able to see the aircraft with vision unaided by any device other than corrective lenses, throughout the entire flight.
The reason the rule enumerates four purposes is that it is not merely “can you spot it”. You must be able to know its location, determine its attitude, altitude and direction of flight, observe the airspace for other traffic, and determine that it does not endanger life or property.
Binoculars and the FPV feed do not satisfy this — but §107.31(b) allows the ability to be exercised by either the RPIC-and-manipulator pair or a visual observer, which is what makes FPV flight legal with a spotter.
Prohibited, restricted, and temporary
- §107.45 — no operation in prohibited or restricted areas without permission from the controlling agency.
- §107.47 — comply with flight restrictions issued by NOTAM. Temporary Flight Restrictions appear for stadium events, VIP movement, wildfires, and disaster response, and they appear at short notice.
Check NOTAMs before every flight, not just for airspace you know is controlled. A TFR can close Class G airspace that was open yesterday.
Check yourself
- You are in Class E airspace that begins at 700 feet AGL, flying at 200 feet. Do you need ATC authorisation?
- A 600-foot tower needs inspection. What altitude may you legally reach, and where must you be?
- The UAS Facility Map grid over your site reads 0. What are your options?
- The grid cell reads 150. You request 200 feet through LAANC. What happens?
Answers
- No. §107.41 covers only surface-area Class E designated for an airport. Class E with a 700 ft floor leaves you in Class G below it.
- 1,000 ft — 400 ft above the structure’s 600 ft top — but only while within a 400 ft radius of the tower. Move outside that radius and the 400 ft AGL limit applies again.
- LAANC cannot approve it. Submit a further coordination request through the FAA DroneZone and allow weeks, or fly somewhere else.
- LAANC will not auto-approve it — 200 is above the cell’s published ceiling. Request 150 or less for a near-real-time approval, or go to further coordination. (150 and 250 are real ceiling values; a list that skips them is incomplete.)